Straightening Floors In Old Homes

The typical buyer of an old or historic home is expecting hardwood floors.

Straightening floors in old homes.

How old is the home. Warping manifests as gaps between the boards. Slightly sloping floors which are common in older houses often worry homeowners who want to install new rigid floorings such as laminate ceramic tile or hardwood. I guess they just didn t expect the house to hang around that long.

In my own house for example every floor pitches toward the center stairwell. Old subfloor and into the joists the new subfloor can help to reduce floor bounce. When old wooden homes were built the floors were not supported as much as they should have been for 100 years of use. The grooves rise higher and the peaked areas involve more than one floorboard.

Water damage is usually the reason for buckled floors but mistakes during installation are frequently the cause behind peaks. Wood floors need to breathe. The humidity levels in your home naturally change with season temperature and weather. That is the difference.

Here s a quick review of the most common problems and a few of the typical remedies. Although generally only an annoyance sagging floors can be an indication of worsening problems. If the floor is sagging visibly in the middle or is very bouncy you may want to reinforce the floor to eliminate the sag and reduce the bounciness for example dishes rattling in a cabinet when you walk by. Floor slopes and slants are common in old houses.

How to straighten a warped floor. And while a click lock engineered wood or laminate floor may be considered an upgrade on a new home it is a definite cold shower to your historic home s market price. Even a slope as great as an eight inch per foot in an 80 year old home may be no problem while any readily discernible slope in a 5 year old house would be reason for concern. This solution also works for problematic second floors where accessing the joists through the first floor ceiling isn t a possibility.

If you are considering a purchase of any home with noticeably sloped floors consider these four factors. March 31 2019 at 8 17 pm. Except for that slope the floor itself might be flat. Wood responds to changes in temperature or humidity by warping and that can be bad news for your hardwood floor.

Expect to find more slopes in an older home. Maintenance free tile is not a selling point for these kind of houses. When considering this option think about the transition between old floor heights and new floor heights at doorways. This is common in old houses and is usually more of a nuisance than a safety issue.